Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. Marketing helps us to worry.

How easy can it be? How sad is this world?

“The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more?

How do you sell anti-aging moisturizer? You make someone worry about aging. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind.

To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.”

(From the book: Lessons to stay alive by Matt Haig, page 189))

Wikipedia:

“Marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships. The American Marketing Association has defined marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

Marketing is used to create the customer, to keep the customer and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that Marketing is one of the premier components of Business Management - the other being Innovation."

That marketing is about satisfying customer requirements really resonates with me.

But is it (still) really about this? Marketing may be called a profession, but in my experience in most cases with a totally different approach. It has become an art to create desires to draw attention to things that actually are not needed at all. An economy is developed of creating fear, worries, feelings of not feeling complete, not connecting with the general standards, not beautiful enough, not showing your status, etc. Needed or not needed. The needs and desires are just created.

Once I learned in Dutch Economics class (Professor Heertje) that an organization or business gets the strength to survive and its value if it covers with its products and / or services the real needs of its environment.

Maybe it's weird to say that marketing possibly works the other way around. A need, lack, gap or worry first is created by a company, and then with a big ‘Walhalla’ the same business offers the solution to close the ‘gap’.  Just and only to produce and earn money.

The story of the Furby. You share for free 100 pieces of this electronic robotic “let’s have fun” toys resembling a hamster or owl-like creature to children. Children know the art of ongoing playful ‘nagging’ to get mostly their desires fulfilled and the magic happens. It became a ‘must have’. Was there really a need, a customer requirement…? What an honor and purpose to work for such an organization (other than just and only earning a salary).

New marketing trends?

An article in the Dutch magazine MT from about six months ago mentioned:

"It is increasingly possible to automate a personal (?) approach to your customers, tracking and guiding a purchase. We spotted three trends:

• Customer journey management (using smart technology to follow the 'journey' of customers to proceed with a purchase. To, quite precisely, find out what channels they use on the internet and determine what time defines the purchase decision.
• Customer service bots (automated customer service (Chat robots) that talk with clients to answer questions in a way that customers feel ‘personalized' reflection and are confident feeling real heard and helped. They are seen as a valuable addition to the customer service and play an important role in customer-management journey.).
• App marketing. (Making use of App's and push messages to approach customers and seduce. With an app you can make your customers a 'personalized' proposal. By collecting customer data and to use the sensors of the smartphone, you can persuade customers to visit the website or web shop.

How smart can it be? How more and more sad this world is getting to be?

On me (so sorry for the economy) there is less and less to earn. I have more than enough. No magazines that are for 2/3 part filled with screaming marketing / advertising, no newspapers or free publicity, no more commercial TV ... Maybe a personal happiness indicator?

It makes me more and more happy and an increasing amount of people recognize this energy. 

Frans Captijn

Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com